Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-09-08
UNRlvALED SCENERY.

Indescrib8ble Grandeur OF the Grand Can
yon OF the Arkansas ana tho IIains.
The Grand Canyon of the Arkansas
excels in majesty any scene which it
has yet been our privilege to look upon.
How many ages or centuries or thou
sands of years the remorseless river
was engaged in cutting its way through
these everlasting mountains is mat
ter of conjecture. The channel of the
river Cat this point not large one)
pursues tortuous way for many miles
between the lofty rocks, which its
ceaseless cravings have severed. The
solid walls, rising sometimes almost
perpendicularly to the height of eleven
hundred feet, the winding course of the
canyon apparently closing us in
doorless prison, the skylight seeking
to penetrate the depths of the abyss,
and splashing rain, all added to the
beauty, the grandeur, the terror, the
excitement, and the pleasure of the
occasion. Our good engins, with re-
markable ease and speed, climbing
up the grade on the background of the
enormous rocks, looked like a speck,
a dot, child's plaything. 1.-The
Royal Gorge as it is called, is the
elimination of the canyon. Here is
scarcely room for the river alone, but
mans ingenuity has overcome natures
distractions, and well-used thor
oughfare is the result. Emerging from
the canyon the road follows the Arkan-
sas river to Salida. On our left are the
snow-covered peaks of Sangre de Girls
to, Spanish name meaning the "Blood
of Christ" Here we leave the river
and begin to climb and scale the heights
of Marshall Pass over the great conti-
mental divide.
We wind along the mountain sides,
rising higher and higher. Our train
is divided into two sections. Looking
upward we see now line of earth
which marks the course of the road /;
now the first section of our train ap-
pears, leading us half mile. Looking
downward we see the course we have
come; now one, now two, now three
sections of the road appear at once,
tier above tier. Looking outward we
see the great slopes of the majestic
mountains and the recesses of the val
leys. The Rockies seem to open the
doors of their secret chambers and to
reveal to us their hidden beauties
AT length, on the very summit, in a
long snow-shed, through many of
which we have passed, our painting,
putting engine, like tired and over
burdened animal, stops in its course,
as if to gather strength for the struggle
before it in carrying its load down on
the other side. We are 1888 feet
(more than two miles) above the level
of the sea.
The descent, with the loops of the
road bending back and forth, and with
somewhat milder scenery, is the re-
verse of the ascent The train rolls on,
and now darkness comes upon us. Our
road lay through a gorge described as
"grander, deeper, darker, and yet
more beautiful than we had so recent
ly passed through" 1t is called the
black canyon. Sitting or standing
upon the back platform of our car we
were quite able TO see the majestic out
lines of this great gorge. Waterfalls,
the swiftly-nowing river, the lofty and
precipitous rocks reaching out theil
arms as if to crush us in their EN-.
brace, the Chrrecanti Mcclellan alb.
rupt and isolated pinnacle, symmetrical
and graceful-are all discernible in the
darkness, which lends to each a charm
of its own. The morning light finds
us on the great plains.
An awful, q terrible desert. IT.
desolation is simply indescribable. L
extends for more than one hundred
miles between the Grand and tn,
Green rivers, and while dreary ant
somewhat monotonous, is by no means
uninteresting. On the right and lef
are arid wastes of land, bearing her,
and there the scantie,t possible growtl
of worthless weeds. The hills in colo
and in their wrnkled surface remint
one of the hides of some gigantic ele
phant. The buttes, with thin, leve
tops, precipitous faces and barren ap
pearance, rise continually on eithe
side. In the Green river valley irri
CATION has begun to change the barren
ness into fruitfulness. Onward W
speed up the ascent of the Wasatcl
range, through Castle Gate, who's
warders are the great rocks whicl
stand at its entrance, up the Pric
river canyon, down which Sydne
Johnston marched his army hom
from Utah after he had established tn
authority of our Government over tn
Mormnn rahels -COr ChicUoo Times